Pumping professionals interested in exploring waste disposal options will want to plan to be on hand for a seminar track presented by the National Assoc-iation of Wastewater Transporters Inc. at the 2009 Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International, Feb. 25-28, in Louisville, Ky.
The NAWT program — which will navigate liquid waste haulers through many treatment and disposal choices — is part of Education Day on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
Education Day includes 46 seminars presented by industry experts across the full range of environmental service industries. Seminars also are offered Thursday and Friday mornings.
A summary of the NAWT program follows. For a complete seminar schedule, see the Expo pages in this issue of Pumper.
What Are My Disposal Resources and How Do They Fit?
Tom Frank, general manager for Tim Frank Septic Tank Cleaning Co., Huntsburg, Ohio
Tom Frank and his father, Tim, built a waste treatment facility from the ground up, developing an expertise with dewatering sludge and land application of septage along the way. Then the family’s facility burned to the ground late in 2007 and they had to rebuild the facility. “Not only did they do it once, but they did it twice,’’ says Tom Ferrero, executive director of NAWT. “Tom is a resourceful fellow who will give great insight into thinking outside the box’’ in planning a treatment system, Ferrero says. Frank will walk attendees through the process of reviewing their current disposal options and how a pretreatment system might fit into their future plans.
Treatment Processes: What is Out There?
Therese Wheaton, owner of Crystal Environmental Springboro, Pa.
Wheaton has been a manufacturer’s rep for treatment systems and is a consultant for pumpers exploring disposal options for their own businesses. While Ferrero says the Expo is a great place to see a variety of dewatering equipment, Wheaton’s specialty is explaining how many components work to separate the waste stream into water that may be released to a municipal sewer system and solids that can be disposed. “She can put the big picture together and knows it as well as anyone,’’ Ferrero says of Wheaton, who presented a private treatment plant case history at NAWT’s Waste Treatment Symposium in September.
Evaluating Costs as Part of the Decision-Making Process
Tom Ferrero, executive director of NAWT
Ferrero will give advice pumpers can use to determine which method of disposal will work best in their specific situation. Choosing the best option is a first big step in business planning for the expense of a treatment system, Ferrero says. “If you can land-apply your material, there’s no sense in buying a $200,000 (dewatering) press,’’ he notes. “If you do a business plan, it becomes very clear if one option is better than another, or it becomes clear that it doesn’t matter what kind of system you go with.’’ Taking the factors of each specific business into account, you can then choose a treatment system type and get a good idea on the costs of controlling your own disposal destiny, he says.
